When Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games and a recognized hall of famer in the video game industry, speaks the world listens.

That includes giant Microsoft, which responded quickly to a barrage of criticism Sweeney unleashed Friday against its gaming ecosystem. Sweeney’s attack also triggered a wave of headlines across news and gaming sites.

“The Universal Windows Platform is a fully open ecosystem, available to every developer, that can be supported by any store. We continue to make improvements for developers; for example, in the Windows 10 November Update, we enabled people to easily side-load apps by default, with no UX required,” Kevin Gallo, vice president of Windows, told the U.K. Guardian, which unleashed Sweeney’s attack.

“We want to make Windows the best development platform regardless of technologies used, and offer tools to help developers with existing code bases of HTML/JavaScript, .NET and Win32, C+ + and Objective-C bring their code to Windows, and integrate UWP capabilities. With Xamarin, UWP developers can not only reach all Windows 10 devices, but they can now use a large percentage of their C# code to deliver a fully native mobile app experiences for iOS and Android. We also posted a blog on our development tools recently.”

In an op-ed, Sweeny wrote:

“In my view, this is the most aggressive move Microsoft has ever made. While the company has been convicted of violating antitrust law in the past, its wrongful actions were limited to fights with specific competitors and contracts with certain PC manufacturers. This isn’t like that. Here, Microsoft is moving against the entire PC industry …”

He said the Microsoft strategy had to be defeated.

The Guardian noted that Sweeney’s concerns had been “echoed by other developers the Guardian has spoken to is that UWP is a closed platform, which means developers will need to be licensed by Microsoft to distribute games written using the platform. It could also mean that Microsoft will be able to control the sale of PC games and applications, ensuring that UWP titles will only be available through its own Windows Store.”

Global reaction

The Guardian labeled Sweeney’s commentary as an “unprecedented attack on the Microsoft’s direction by one of its most valued game development partners will be seen as a huge blow to the company.”

The paper is right. Check out the sample of headlines and summaries from other media outlets:

  • Microsoft is turning the PC into a walled garden and ‘we must fight it,’ says Tim Sweeney

The Verge

In an op-ed for The Guardian this morning, Epic Games co-founder Tim Sweeney has launched a withering attack on Microsoft and its Universal Windows Platform (UWP) initiative in Windows 10. “Microsoft has built a closed platform-within-a-platform into …

  • Epic Games: Microsoft can’t be allowed to control PC gaming

Engadget

Tim Sweeney, co-founder of Epic Games (Unreal Engine, Gears of War), has written a scathing op-ed about Microsoft’s Universal Windows Platform initiative for The Guardian. Sweeney argues that Microsoft is creating a closed platform for Windows 10 “the …

  • ​Epic’s Tim Sweeney Launches Scathing Attack On Universal Windows Platform

TheSixthAxis

Microsoft have been pushing hard with Windows 10 and their efforts to unify their various platforms under one banner and with plenty of common ground between them. So the Xbox One runs with Windows 10 technology underneath the hood, Windows 10 …

  • Epic Games co-founder attacks Microsoft for trying to ‘monopolise’ PC development

Gamasutra

Speaking at a media event in San Francisco last week, Xbox chief Phil Spencer revealed the company was planning to build out a “complete gaming ecosystem for Universal Windows Applications.” Yet, according to Sweeney, writing in The Guardian, …

  • Epic Games Boss Attacks Microsoft’s Universal Windows Platform

IGN

Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney has penned an editorial speaking out against Microsoft’s Universal Windows Platform (UWP) initiative, calling it “the most aggressive move Microsoft has ever made.” Writing for The Guardian, Sweeney talks about Microsoft …

  • Epic Games Boss says Microsoft is turning the PC into a walled garden with its UWP initiative

TechSpot

Tim Sweeney, the co-founder of Gears of War maker Epic Games, has launched a blistering attack on Microsoft over its Universal Windows Platform (UWP) initiative. In an op-ed he penned for The Guardian, Sweeney claimed that UWP is “the most aggressive …

  • Epic CEO: “Universal Windows Platform can, should, must, and will die”

Ars Technica

In a scathing editorial in The Guardian, Epic Games cofounder Tim Sweeney spoke out about Microsoft’s Universal Windows Platform (UWP) initiative, calling it a “fiasco” and “the most aggressive move Microsoft has ever made.” “With its new Universal …

Read more from The Guardian at:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/04/gears-of-war-developer-epic-games-tim-sweeney-games-industry-fight-microsoft